The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49464

Laurie True, MPH¹, Diane C. Woloshin, MS, RD¹, and Judy Gomez, MPH, RD². (1) California WIC Association, 1010 11th Street, Suite 205, Sacramento, CA 95814, 916.448.2280, ltrue@calwic.org, (2) Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program, 12781 Schabarum Avenue, Irwindale, CA 91706

With additional public or private funding, WIC’s health care referrals can go beyond cursory encouragement and pamphlets, to include collaborative efforts to identify and assist the uninsured and provide limited case management and advocacy for participants trying to navigate the health care “maze.” California WIC Association (CWA) implemented a privately funded collaborative multi-year effort designed to close health care gaps for WIC families, particularly immigrants, in six local WIC programs located in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside Counties. The goal of the CWA project is to use the WIC setting to increase access to early and continuous health care. California WIC’s automated data system, ISIS, is used to detect health care coverage gaps at individual WIC sites, and to monitor progress in closing them. Local WIC Project collaborators in these counties have been funded to use existing community outreach and enrollment workers, as well as better trained WIC staff, to reassure and inform these women about "public charge" and other issues, and work to ensure their access to Medicaid and SCHIP. Participating WIC programs are required to track outcomes using ISIS (California WIC’s automated data system) and other protocols, compare outcomes in each site, and demonstrate cost and feasibility of the project for future dissemination and training efforts to the entire WIC community. In the first year alone, participating programs were able to increase Medi-Cal enrollments among pregnant women by close to 15 percentage points overall.

Learning Objectives: After attending the session, audience members will be able to

• Describe the role and requirements of WIC in insuring access to health care coverage among uninsured low-income families; (
• List three concrete strategies for working with existing community health collaboratives to increase Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment; (
• Articulate a methodology for tagging and tracking uninsured WIC enrollees for followup with outreach workers; (
• Discuss creative avenues for co-location, collaboration, and enhanced health care referrals and enrollment efforts using existing WIC administrative and staffing infrastructure.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, WIC

Related Web page: www.calwic.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Funded by The California Endowment
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employed by California WIC Association